It's 'Adventure Time' for Braden Lamb '11

You may not recognize Braden Lamb, but legions of fans enjoy the work he produces with his wife, Shelli Paroline. Together, the pair illustrate the popular monthly comic book series "Adventure Time," drawing comics of the eponymous television show that airs on the Cartoon Network in the United States and Europe.

Before "Adventure Time," they had worked on other licensed comics such as "Duck Tales" and the Muppets with the publisher, BOOM! Studios, which tapped their creative talents to launch the "Adventure Time" comic two years ago. It was an instant hit.

Before his recent successes, Lamb had worked in information technology. "I was doing comics in all my down time. I decided that before it got too late, I wanted to make a go of it," recalls Lamb, who has a bachelor's degree from Bard College in film and animation. "I wanted to supplement my background with illustration skills, and it was good to focus on building that for a couple of years." He decided to enroll at Lesley in the Advanced Professional Certificate in Illustration program and graduated in 2011.

He and his wife have been deeply entrenched in the world of comics for years and help to organize the annual Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (MICE), held each fall at Lesley. And now, they travel the world to comics conferences, where they love meeting hardcore fans that approach them at the BOOM! Studios booth.

A panel from "Adventure Time" by Braden Lamb

"It's really fun to share enthusiasm with people about 'Adventure Time' and the comics," Lamb says. "It's a fun world to play in as well because we get to invent some things in the comics, like monsters and locations."

In addition to his "Adventure Time" work, Lamb colors other people's comics and graphic novels, which is a niche skill he has honed. He recently wrapped up coloring Raina Telgemeier's "Sisters," which is the sequel to the New York Times bestselling "Smile."

A panel from "Adventure Time" by Braden Lamb

"I actually encourage people who are into comics to brush up their digital coloring skills because that's very much in demand and not a lot of people are actually doing it," Lamb advised. "Realizing there was this need for other roles in comics, I sought out classes at Lesley that would help me build those skills. I was lettering comics for a while, so I went for the typography class, which was one of my favorites."

This summer, Lamb and his wife are finishing up work on "The Midas Flesh," a sci-fi space travel adventure series, and they are also working on the art for a graphic novel called "Making Scents," written by Caldecott Medal-winning author Arthur Yorinks.